The IDF will permanently seize parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages held in captivity, Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a substantial yet vague escalatory threat on Friday, March 21.
“I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, evacuate the population, and expand security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers. The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel,” Katz said.
“If the hostages are not released, Israel will continue to take more and more territory in the Strip for permanent control,” he said.
If played out to their maximal conclusion, Katz’s threats could be a game-changer that would shake the region with Israel permanently occupying portions of Gaza, something it had insisted it was not interested in until this point in the war.
However, Katz did not specify which portions of Gaza would be annexed, how long Hamas had until such decisions would be made, if there were scenarios where small annexations could be reversed once hostages were returned, or whether Israel had support for such a move from the Trump administration or other world powers.
Moreover, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not make any similar statement, which one might have expected for such a major policy reversal. (JPost/VFI News)
Originally posted at vfinews.com
